The US based pharmaceutical company Pharmacia Tuesday donated specific medicine for the fight against glaucoma worth 2.3 million yuan (277,000 US dollars) to the Read Cross Society of China.
According to an official with the society, the eye disease is hard to cure simply with operations. The prevailing treatment in the world is medication, but Chinese patients in poverty-stricken areas cannot afford the high priced imported medicines.
Sun Aiming, vice president of the association, promised to give out the donated medicine free to the suffering patients in poor regions around the country.
Aiming to aid the most vulnerable group, the “love project” of the association has provided medical equipment and drugs to cure eye diseases in many places, including Tibet and Chongqing, since 1997. More than 500 cataract sufferers have been helped to regain their eyesight in Tibet.
(People’s Daily 08/15/2001)
